Stupid rules create black markets. New York is the textbook example of a stupid rules city. I'm surprised there isn't a movement of people carrying little baggies full of baking soda and a little bottle of vinegar so when the cops violate the constitution with stop and frisk and try to arrest you, they are liable for wrongful arrest suits for hassling you over your legal volcano hobby.

Stupid rules create black markets. New York is the textbook example of a stupid rules city. I'm surprised there isn't a movement of people carrying little baggies full of baking soda and a little bottle of vinegar so when the cops violate the constitution with stop and frisk and try to arrest you, they are liable for wrongful arrest suits for hassling you over your legal volcano hobby.

This. I don't smoke and never have, but the taxes are punitive in NY so of course people are going to try to get around it.

Not to mention, I'm sure when these taxes were enacted, they used some sort of static analysis that said we're selling x packs now so if we increase the tax by $1 we'll make $1 * x in new revenue! Yay! Even our congress is not allowed to take the expected behavioral changes into account when predicting the effects of tax.

Newsflash. People hate paying taxes and will generally try to avoid them.

I want to Russia in 90/91. Several people took entire suitcases filled with American cigs. Boy were they surprised when they found out they cost about $0.30 per pack locally, they'd paid over a buck a pack here in 'murica.

/ sold the jeans I was wearing for $250// went to my room to change/// when I came back offer was rescinded, guy's buddy noticed I wasn't wearing Levi's//// Only Levis were worth the big bux, my K-Mart specials weren't.

When are progressives going to learn that legislating morality does not work?They scream their obscenities and wave their flags and proclaim they are the truly enlightened ones when they are the worst of the oppressors. Fascism hiding behind a veil of liberty.

I used to wait outside a bodega in Baltimore for the connecting light rail... They had the weirdest cigarettes, and I'd buy a different brand every so often, just for kicks.

Mostly Chinese brands, and most of them were... I dunno... Bamboo sawdust? Panda crap? They burned fast and tasted like crud.

Funny thing being, having travelled in Asia you don't really realize just how much tobacco is taxed until you buy a pack of (actually pretty good) smokes for say, $0.30 in Nepal or at a 7-11 in Bangkok.

And that's not counting the crap smuggled out of New York State and into Canada by the Natives and others (including cops, apparently, if cheese is any indication).

Where there are excise taxes, there is smuggling. For some reason this does not faze Conservative anti-taxers who say the rich shouldn't be taxed on capital gains, property, wealth, or income, because they would just cheat more any way.

Excise taxes are very high but they are highly regressive so they only hurt the poors. The rich can drink $500,000 bottles of brandy if they like. No sweat. It's a very small part of a super rich family or corporations wealth. They can also afford to throw bottles out of the window--full. The poor man's beer is an evil, the rich man's Champagne is a Pure Good, provided the rich man gets to drink it all.

Rich men and women have a magical power like priests to transsubstantiate selfish consumption into wealth to trickle from their lips and employ and feed the poors.

brantgoose:And that's not counting the crap smuggled out of New York State and into Canada by the Natives and others (including cops, apparently, if cheese is any indication).

Where there are excise taxes, there is smuggling. For some reason this does not faze Conservative anti-taxers who say the rich shouldn't be taxed on capital gains, property, wealth, or income, because they would just cheat more any way.

Excise taxes are very high but they are highly regressive so they only hurt the poors. The rich can drink $500,000 bottles of brandy if they like. No sweat. It's a very small part of a super rich family or corporations wealth. They can also afford to throw bottles out of the window--full. The poor man's beer is an evil, the rich man's Champagne is a Pure Good, provided the rich man gets to drink it all.

Rich men and women have a magical power like priests to transsubstantiate selfish consumption into wealth to trickle from their lips and employ and feed the poors.

If a poor man smuggled brandy over the border and got $500,000 for it, he'd be fed for quite awhile.

Gyrfalcon:dr_blasto: So, are the Chinese Camels even more toxic than the North American ones? Is that even possible without actually killing the smoker right away?

I'd think Chinese Camels must be made of ACTUAL camels.

Hmmmm, I might try one. Would prefer trying one made of beef or lamb. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm beeeeeeeeeeeeef. BarBQ beef smoke.... One pack of BarBQ Beef and one pack of beer flavor... I might take up smoking!!!!

/actually used to smoke.. traveled to Louisville on reg basis. Would get smokes in ODDBALL places like a produce stand $8 a CARTON! vs $28 for the exact same cheap carton in my hometown (and some places had prices jacked up to $36/37). I would always stock up when heading home; figured money I saved covered my gas. NOW, money I save from flat out not smoking cover a whole helluva lot more!

The whole point of having different municipalities and states is to allow for this type of thing to happen. If someone doesn't like the way one place does it, you can go somewhere else where it is legal/easier to do whatever it is you're doing. This kind of competition is good, because this kind of regulation and taxation is stupid.